Connector assembly having camming system for mating and unmating

An electrical connector assembly of the type comprising first and second connector housings, each of the housings having a plurality of electrical terminals therein and having a mating face, the mating faces of the housings being opposed to each other and being substantially against each other when the housings are coupled, each of the housings having oppositely facing sidewalls and oppositely facing endwalls, and a camming system for moving the housings towards and away from each other along a first path to mate and unmate the housings, the camming system comprising a camming side which is mounted in one of the housings and which is movable along a cam slide path which extends transversely of the first path, the connector assembly being characterized in that:

• the first housing has a pair of side flanges extending therefrom on opposite sides of the mating face, the side flanges having ends which are proximate to the endwalls of the first housing and having free edges extending between the ends of the flanges which are spaced outwardly from the mating face of the first housing,
• the camming slide being U-shaped and comprising a web and spaced-apart arms extending from the web, the camming slide being mounted on the flanges with the arms extending towards, and overlapping the flanges,
• the second housing having cam tracks in the sidewalls thereof which extend inwardly from the mating face of the second housing, the cam tracks having intermediate portions which extend diagonally towards the rear face of the second housing, the arms having integral cam followers thereon which are received in the cam tracks,
• the side flanges having slots therein which extend substantially parallel to the mating face of the first housing, the cam follower extending through the slots, the cam follower and the slots constituting interfitting guide means for guiding the cam slide along the cam slidepath, whereby
• upon positioning the second housing in opposed aligned relationship with the first housing and with the cam followers in the cam tracks, the first and second housings cam be mated to each other by moving the camming slide along the camming slide path.